cuteness alert: puppies and babies in nature.

Last weekend, Andrew took Madeline and Hudson (our German Shepherd) to Kiest Lake on Fort Bragg for a Daddy/Daughter/Dog Date. They had such an awesome time romping around in the woods together that this weekend they invited Lily (our Goldendoodle) and me to tag along.

Andrew was worried, at first, that Lily, our notoriously disobedient/stubborn puppy, wouldn’t be able to hang out off leash, the way Hudson had the previous weekend. Oh, ye of little faith! She’d be fine! My Lilypad is a changed girl after doing her time at bootcamp aka board and train with K9Trainer4u. I just knew she would prove me right.

When we got to the lake, we opened the trunk of the VUE, and the pups bolted. They ran out of sight faster than it took us to realize which direction they had gone. I immediately whistled for them, and, after a brief pause, can you guess who came flying back to us? That’s right, folks. It was my best girl, Lily Pad Wilhelm! She was a model citizen, even showing up Hudsie Biggest Boy with her perfect obedience. It was such a thrill to watch our trustworthy dogs running and playing in nature harder than we’d ever seen them before.

Madeline spent the entire afternoon chasing after the pups, shouting for them to come back to her. And when they would, she’d shriek in delight, patting them on their backs. The whole thing was actually sort of surreal, because, in that moment, I realized that things were perfect. The dogs were being awesome, my daughter was having fun, Andrew was loving life in nature and I was looking through my lens trying to freeze all of the moments in time.